Platform for supporting conveyor belt of treadmill

ABSTRACT

A platform for supporting a conveyor belt of a treadmill includes a wooden plate, a reinforcement plate above the wooden plate, and a shock-absorbing plate sandwiched between the wooden plate and the reinforcement plate. The shock-absorbing plate has a surface facing the wooden plate base, and a plurality of cushions protruding from the surface and stopping against the wooden plate for providing good elastic support force and cushion effect.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to parts of a treadmill, and more particularly, to a platform for supporting a conveyor belt of the treadmill.

2. Description of the Related Art

A treadmill is an apparatus capable of simulating walking and/or running for cardiorespiratory training. Generally, the treadmill includes an endless wide conveyor belt for allowing a person to do a running exercise while staying in one place. In order to allow the belt to run continuously, the treadmill is equipped with a platform for supporting the belt. Conventionally, the platform has a wooden plate with a concavity recessed from a top thereof, and a cushion plate disposed in the concavity of the wooden plate for absorbing the impact force generated by runner's steps. On the top of the wooden plate a reinforcement plate may be mounted for enhancing the structural strength of the platform.

However, the aforesaid cushion plate used in the conventional platform is usually a simple plate member provided with no auxiliary cushion structure at its top and bottom surfaces. This simple design of the cushion plate tends to make the conventional platform have an insufficient elastic support force, resulting in that the conventional platform for supporting the conveyor belt of the treadmill can provide a limited cushion effect.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been accomplished in view of the above-noted circumstances. It is therefore one objective of the present invention to provide a platform for supporting a conveyor belt of a treadmill, which can provide good elastic support force and cushion effect.

To achieve the above-mentioned objective, the platform provided by the present invention comprises a wooden plate, a reinforcement plate above the wooden plate, and a shock-absorbing plate sandwiched between the wooden plate and the reinforcement plate. The shock-absorbing plate is provided with a surface facing the wooden plate base, and a plurality of cushions protruding from the surface and stopping against the wooden plate. By means of this design, the platform can provide a good elastic support force to the conveyor belt and a good cushion effect when it receives an external force.

In the present invention, the cushions may be configured having a shape like an inverted truncated cone having a relatively wide top end connected with the surface of the shock-absorbing plate and a relatively narrow bottom end stopped at the wooden plate. Preferably, these cushions are spacedly arranged in a matrix in rows and columns. More preferably, each two of the rows of the matrix may have an equal interval and the interval between each two of the columns may be the same or different.

Further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given herein below and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the present invention, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a platform according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the platform of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a bottom view of a shock-absorbing plate of the platform of the preferred embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 5 is similar to FIG. 4, but showing an alternate form of the shock-absorbing plate.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

As shown in FIG. 1, a platform 10, which is provided according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention for being used in a treadmill (not shown in the drawing) to support a conveyor belt (not shown), comprises a wooden plate 20, a reinforcement plate 30 and a shock-absorbing plate 40.

The reinforcement plate 30 is made of phenolic resin and located above the wooden plate 20 for enhancing the structural strength of the platform 10.

The shock-absorbing plate 40 is sandwichedly mounted between the wooden plate 20 and the reinforcement plate 30 and has a top surface that is remote from the wooden plate 20 attached with the reinforcement plate 30, and a bottom surface that faces the wooden plate 20. A plurality of cushions 42 integrally protrude from the bottom surface of the shock-absorbing plate 40 and stop against the wooden plate 20, as shown in FIG. 3. Each cushion 42 has a shape like an inverted truncated cone with a relatively wide top end connected with the bottom surface of the shock-absorbing plate 40 and a relatively narrow bottom end stopped at the wooden plate 20. The cushions 42 are arranged in a matrix in rows and columns. As shown in FIG. 4, in this preferred embodiment, the interval between each two of the rows of the matrix is equal to the interval between each two of the columns of the matrix.

By means of the matrix arrangement of the truncated cone-shaped cushions 42, the platform 40 of the present invention can provide a good elastic support force to the conveyor belt of the treadmill. Once the runner treads on the conveyor belt supported by the platform 10 of the present invention, the cushions 42 corresponding in location to the runner's step will compliably and compressedly deform subject to the magnitude of the stepping force so as to provide the runner a good cushion effect. On the other hand, the arrangement of the cushion 42 may vary. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, each two of the rows of the matrix have an equal interval and the columns that are arranged at a front portion of the shock-absorbing plate 40 have an interval smaller than that of the columns that are arranged at a rear portion of the shock-absorbing plate 40. In other word, the cushions 42 are arranged more crowded at the front portion of the shock-absorbing plate 40 than the rear portion of the shock-absorbing plate 40, such that the platform 10 can provide a relatively hard cushion at its front portion and a relatively soft cushion at its rear portion. As a result, the platform 10 of the present invention will have different softness at different portions thereof so as to provide a cushion effect suitable for the runner running on the treadmill simulating a real running on the ground.

The invention being thus described, it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A platform for supporting a conveyor belt of a treadmill, the platform comprising: a wooden plate; a reinforcement plate above the wooden plate; and a shock-absorbing plate sandwiched between the wooden plate and the reinforcement plate and provided with a surface facing the wooden plate base, and a plurality of cushions protruding from the surface and stopping against the wooden plate.
 2. The platform as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cushions each are an inverted truncated cone having a relatively wide top end connected with the surface of the shock-absorbing plate, and a relatively narrow bottom end stopped at the wooden plate.
 3. The platform as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cushions are spacedly arranged in a matrix in rows and columns.
 4. The platform as claimed in claim 3, wherein an interval between each two of the rows of the matrix is equal to an interval between each two of the columns of the matrix.
 5. The platform as claimed in clam 3, wherein each two of the rows of the matrix have an equal interval and the columns that are arranged at a front portion of the shock-absorbing plate have an interval smaller than that of the columns that are arranged at a rear portion of the shock-absorbing plate. 